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  <div class="section" id="api-reference">
<span id="id1"></span><h1>11. API Reference<a class="headerlink" href="#api-reference" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.core">
<h2>11.1. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.core</span></tt> &#8212; Core Distutils functionality<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.core" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.core</span></tt> module is the only module that needs to be installed
to use the Distutils. It provides the <a title="distutils.core.setup" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.setup"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup()</span></tt></a> (which is called from the
setup script). Indirectly provides the  <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dist.Distribution</span></tt> and
<a title="distutils.cmd.Command" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.cmd.Command"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.cmd.Command</span></tt></a> class.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.core.setup">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.core.</tt><tt class="descname">setup</tt><big>(</big><em>arguments</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.core.setup" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The basic do-everything function that does most everything you could ever ask
for from a Distutils method. See XXXXX</p>
<p>The setup function takes a large number of arguments. These are laid out in the
following table.</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="18%" />
<col width="28%" />
<col width="54%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">argument name</th>
<th class="head">value</th>
<th class="head">type</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><em>name</em></td>
<td>The name of the package</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>version</em></td>
<td>The version number of the
package</td>
<td>See <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.version</span></tt></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>description</em></td>
<td>A single line describing the
package</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>long_description</em></td>
<td>Longer description of the
package</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>author</em></td>
<td>The name of the package author</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>author_email</em></td>
<td>The email address of the
package author</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>maintainer</em></td>
<td>The name of the current
maintainer, if different from
the author</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>maintainer_email</em></td>
<td>The email address of the
current maintainer, if
different from the author</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>url</em></td>
<td>A URL for the package
(homepage)</td>
<td>a URL</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>download_url</em></td>
<td>A URL to download the package</td>
<td>a URL</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>packages</em></td>
<td>A list of Python packages that
distutils will manipulate</td>
<td>a list of strings</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>py_modules</em></td>
<td>A list of Python modules that
distutils will manipulate</td>
<td>a list of strings</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>scripts</em></td>
<td>A list of standalone script
files to be built and
installed</td>
<td>a list of strings</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>ext_modules</em></td>
<td>A list of Python extensions to
be built</td>
<td>A list of  instances of
<a title="distutils.core.Extension" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Extension"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.core.Extension</span></tt></a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>classifiers</em></td>
<td>A list of categories for the
package</td>
<td>The list of available
categorizations is at
<a class="reference external" href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi?:action=list_classifiers">http://pypi.python.org/pypi?:action=list_classifiers</a>.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>distclass</em></td>
<td>the <a title="distutils.core.Distribution" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Distribution"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt></a>
class to use</td>
<td>A subclass of
<a title="distutils.core.Distribution" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Distribution"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.core.Distribution</span></tt></a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>script_name</em></td>
<td>The name of the setup.py
script - defaults to
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.argv[0]</span></tt></td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>script_args</em></td>
<td>Arguments to supply to the
setup script</td>
<td>a list of strings</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>options</em></td>
<td>default options for the setup
script</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>license</em></td>
<td>The license for the package</td>
<td>a string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>keywords</em></td>
<td>Descriptive meta-data, see
<span class="target" id="index-160"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0314"><strong>PEP 314</strong></a></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>platforms</em></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>cmdclass</em></td>
<td>A mapping of command names to
<a title="distutils.core.Command" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Command"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Command</span></tt></a> subclasses</td>
<td>a dictionary</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>data_files</em></td>
<td>A list of data files to
install</td>
<td>a list</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>package_dir</em></td>
<td>A mapping of package to
directory names</td>
<td>a dictionary</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.core.run_setup">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.core.</tt><tt class="descname">run_setup</tt><big>(</big><em>script_name</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>script_args=None</em>, <em>stop_after='run'</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.core.run_setup" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Run a setup script in a somewhat controlled environment, and return  the
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dist.Distribution</span></tt> instance that drives things.   This is
useful if you need to find out the distribution meta-data  (passed as keyword
args from <em>script</em> to <a title="distutils.core.setup" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.setup"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup()</span></tt></a>), or  the contents of the config files or
command-line.</p>
<p><em>script_name</em> is a file that will be run with <a title="execfile" class="reference external" href="../library/functions.html#execfile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">execfile()</span></tt></a> <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.argv[0]</span></tt>
will be replaced with <em>script</em> for the duration of the call.  <em>script_args</em> is a
list of strings; if supplied, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.argv[1:]</span></tt> will be replaced by <em>script_args</em>
for the duration  of the call.</p>
<p><em>stop_after</em> tells <a title="distutils.core.setup" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.setup"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup()</span></tt></a> when to stop processing; possible  values:</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="25%" />
<col width="75%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">value</th>
<th class="head">description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><em>init</em></td>
<td>Stop after the <a title="distutils.core.Distribution" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Distribution"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt></a>
instance has been created  and populated
with the keyword arguments to <a title="distutils.core.setup" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.setup"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup()</span></tt></a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>config</em></td>
<td>Stop after config files have been parsed
(and their data stored in the
<a title="distutils.core.Distribution" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Distribution"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt></a> instance)</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>commandline</em></td>
<td>Stop after the command-line
(<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.argv[1:]</span></tt> or  <em>script_args</em>) have
been parsed (and the data stored in the
<a title="distutils.core.Distribution" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Distribution"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt></a> instance.)</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>run</em></td>
<td>Stop after all commands have been run (the
same as  if <a title="distutils.core.setup" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.setup"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup()</span></tt></a> had been called
in the usual way). This is the default
value.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</dd></dl>

<p>In addition, the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.core</span></tt> module exposed a number of  classes that
live elsewhere.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a title="distutils.core.Extension" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Extension"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Extension</span></tt></a> from <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.extension</span></tt></li>
<li><a title="distutils.core.Command" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Command"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Command</span></tt></a> from <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.cmd</span></tt></li>
<li><a title="distutils.core.Distribution" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Distribution"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt></a> from <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dist</span></tt></li>
</ul>
<p>A short description of each of these follows, but see the relevant module for
the full reference.</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.core.Extension">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.core.</tt><tt class="descname">Extension</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.core.Extension" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The Extension class describes a single C or C++extension module in a setup
script. It accepts the following keyword arguments in its constructor</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="29%" />
<col width="39%" />
<col width="33%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">argument name</th>
<th class="head">value</th>
<th class="head">type</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><em>name</em></td>
<td>the full name of the
extension, including any
packages &#8212; ie. <em>not</em> a
filename or pathname, but
Python dotted name</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>sources</em></td>
<td>list of source filenames,
relative to the distribution
root (where the setup script
lives), in Unix form (slash-
separated) for portability.
Source files may be C, C++,
SWIG (.i), platform-specific
resource files, or whatever
else is recognized by the
<strong>build_ext</strong> command
as source for a Python
extension.</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>include_dirs</em></td>
<td>list of directories to search
for C/C++ header files (in
Unix form for portability)</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>define_macros</em></td>
<td>list of macros to define; each
macro is defined using a
2-tuple <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(name,</span> <span class="pre">value)</span></tt>,
where <em>value</em> is
either the string to define it
to or <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> to define it
without a particular value
(equivalent of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">#define</span> <span class="pre">FOO</span></tt>
in source or <em class="xref">-DFOO</em>
on Unix C compiler command
line)</td>
<td>(string, string) tuple or
(name, <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>)</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>undef_macros</em></td>
<td>list of macros to undefine
explicitly</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>library_dirs</em></td>
<td>list of directories to search
for C/C++ libraries at link
time</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>libraries</em></td>
<td>list of library names (not
filenames or paths) to link
against</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>runtime_library_dirs</em></td>
<td>list of directories to search
for C/C++ libraries at run
time (for shared extensions,
this is when the extension is
loaded)</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>extra_objects</em></td>
<td>list of extra files to link
with (eg. object files not
implied by &#8216;sources&#8217;, static
library that must be
explicitly specified, binary
resource files, etc.)</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>extra_compile_args</em></td>
<td>any extra platform- and
compiler-specific information
to use when compiling the
source files in &#8216;sources&#8217;. For
platforms and compilers where
a command line makes sense,
this is typically a list of
command-line arguments, but
for other platforms it could
be anything.</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>extra_link_args</em></td>
<td>any extra platform- and
compiler-specific information
to use when linking object
files together to create the
extension (or to create a new
static Python interpreter).
Similar interpretation as for
&#8216;extra_compile_args&#8217;.</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>export_symbols</em></td>
<td>list of symbols to be exported
from a shared extension. Not
used on all platforms, and not
generally necessary for Python
extensions, which typically
export exactly one symbol:
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">init</span></tt> + extension_name.</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>depends</em></td>
<td>list of files that the
extension depends on</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>language</em></td>
<td>extension language (i.e.
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'c'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'c++'</span></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'objc'</span></tt>). Will be detected
from the source extensions if
not provided.</td>
<td>string</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.core.Distribution">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.core.</tt><tt class="descname">Distribution</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.core.Distribution" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A <a title="distutils.core.Distribution" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Distribution"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt></a> describes how to build, install and package up a Python
software package.</p>
<p>See the <a title="distutils.core.setup" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.setup"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup()</span></tt></a> function for a list of keyword arguments accepted  by the
Distribution constructor. <a title="distutils.core.setup" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.setup"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup()</span></tt></a> creates a Distribution instance.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.core.Command">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.core.</tt><tt class="descname">Command</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.core.Command" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>A <a title="distutils.core.Command" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.core.Command"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Command</span></tt></a> class (or rather, an instance of one of its subclasses)
implement a single distutils command.</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.ccompiler">
<h2>11.2. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.ccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; CCompiler base class<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.ccompiler" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the abstract base class for the <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt></a>
classes.  A <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt></a> instance can be used for all the compile  and
link steps needed to build a single project. Methods are provided to  set
options for the compiler &#8212; macro definitions, include directories,  link path,
libraries and the like.</p>
<p>This module provides the following functions.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.gen_lib_options">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.ccompiler.</tt><tt class="descname">gen_lib_options</tt><big>(</big><em>compiler</em>, <em>library_dirs</em>, <em>runtime_library_dirs</em>, <em>libraries</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.gen_lib_options" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Generate linker options for searching library directories and linking with
specific libraries.  <em>libraries</em> and <em>library_dirs</em> are, respectively, lists of
library names (not filenames!) and search directories.  Returns a list of
command-line options suitable for use with some compiler (depending on the two
format strings passed in).</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.gen_preprocess_options">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.ccompiler.</tt><tt class="descname">gen_preprocess_options</tt><big>(</big><em>macros</em>, <em>include_dirs</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.gen_preprocess_options" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Generate C pre-processor options (<em class="xref">-D</em>, <em class="xref">-U</em>, <em class="xref">-I</em>) as
used by at least two types of compilers: the typical Unix compiler and Visual
C++. <em>macros</em> is the usual thing, a list of 1- or 2-tuples, where <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(name,)</span></tt>
means undefine (<em class="xref">-U</em>) macro <em>name</em>, and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(name,</span> <span class="pre">value)</span></tt> means define
(<em class="xref">-D</em>) macro <em>name</em> to <em>value</em>.  <em>include_dirs</em> is just a list of
directory names to be added to the header file search path (<em class="xref">-I</em>).
Returns a list of command-line options suitable for either Unix compilers or
Visual C++.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.get_default_compiler">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.ccompiler.</tt><tt class="descname">get_default_compiler</tt><big>(</big><em>osname</em>, <em>platform</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.get_default_compiler" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Determine the default compiler to use for the given platform.</p>
<p><em>osname</em> should be one of the standard Python OS names (i.e. the ones returned
by <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.name</span></tt>) and <em>platform</em> the common value returned by <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.platform</span></tt> for
the platform in question.</p>
<p>The default values are <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.name</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.platform</span></tt> in case the parameters
are not given.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.new_compiler">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.ccompiler.</tt><tt class="descname">new_compiler</tt><big>(</big><em>plat=None</em>, <em>compiler=None</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em>, <em>force=0</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.new_compiler" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Factory function to generate an instance of some CCompiler subclass for the
supplied platform/compiler combination. <em>plat</em> defaults to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.name</span></tt> (eg.
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'posix'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'nt'</span></tt>), and <em>compiler</em>  defaults to the default compiler for
that platform. Currently only <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'posix'</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'nt'</span></tt> are supported, and the
default compilers are &#8220;traditional Unix interface&#8221; (<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">UnixCCompiler</span></tt>
class) and Visual C++ (<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MSVCCompiler</span></tt> class).  Note that it&#8217;s perfectly
possible to ask for a Unix compiler object under Windows, and a Microsoft
compiler object under Unix&#8212;if you supply a value for <em>compiler</em>, <em>plat</em> is
ignored.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.show_compilers">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.ccompiler.</tt><tt class="descname">show_compilers</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.show_compilers" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Print list of available compilers (used by the <em class="xref">--help-compiler</em> options
to <strong>build</strong>, <strong>build_ext</strong>, <strong>build_clib</strong>).</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.ccompiler.</tt><tt class="descname">CCompiler</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em>, <em>force=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The abstract base class <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt></a> defines the interface that  must be
implemented by real compiler classes.  The class also has  some utility methods
used by several compiler classes.</p>
<p>The basic idea behind a compiler abstraction class is that each instance can be
used for all the compile/link steps in building a single project.  Thus,
attributes common to all of those compile and link steps &#8212; include
directories, macros to define, libraries to link against, etc. &#8212; are
attributes of the compiler instance.  To allow for variability in how individual
files are treated, most of those attributes may be varied on a per-compilation
or per-link basis.</p>
<p>The constructor for each subclass creates an instance of the Compiler object.
Flags are <em>verbose</em> (show verbose output), <em>dry_run</em> (don&#8217;t actually execute the
steps) and <em>force</em> (rebuild everything, regardless of dependencies). All of
these flags default to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">0</span></tt> (off). Note that you probably don&#8217;t want to
instantiate <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt></a> or one of its subclasses directly - use the
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.CCompiler.new_compiler()</span></tt> factory function instead.</p>
<p>The following methods allow you to manually alter compiler options for  the
instance of the Compiler class.</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir">
<tt class="descname">add_include_dir</tt><big>(</big><em>dir</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Add <em>dir</em> to the list of directories that will be searched for header files.
The compiler is instructed to search directories in the order in which they are
supplied by successive calls to <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_include_dir()</span></tt></a>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_include_dirs">
<tt class="descname">set_include_dirs</tt><big>(</big><em>dirs</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_include_dirs" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Set the list of directories that will be searched to <em>dirs</em> (a list of strings).
Overrides any preceding calls to <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_include_dir()</span></tt></a>; subsequent calls to
<a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_include_dir()</span></tt></a> add to the list passed to <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_include_dirs" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_include_dirs"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_include_dirs()</span></tt></a>.
This does not affect any list of standard include directories that the compiler
may search by default.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library">
<tt class="descname">add_library</tt><big>(</big><em>libname</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Add <em>libname</em> to the list of libraries that will be included in all links driven
by this compiler object.  Note that <em>libname</em> should *not* be the name of a
file containing a library, but the name of the library itself: the actual
filename will be inferred by the linker, the compiler, or the compiler class
(depending on the platform).</p>
<p>The linker will be instructed to link against libraries in the order they were
supplied to <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_library()</span></tt></a> and/or <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_libraries()</span></tt></a>.  It is perfectly
valid to duplicate library names; the linker will be instructed to link against
libraries as many times as they are mentioned.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries">
<tt class="descname">set_libraries</tt><big>(</big><em>libnames</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Set the list of libraries to be included in all links driven by this compiler
object to <em>libnames</em> (a list of strings).  This does not affect any standard
system libraries that the linker may include by default.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library_dir">
<tt class="descname">add_library_dir</tt><big>(</big><em>dir</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library_dir" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Add <em>dir</em> to the list of directories that will be searched for libraries
specified to <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_library()</span></tt></a> and <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_libraries()</span></tt></a>.  The linker will be
instructed to search for libraries in the order they are supplied to
<a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library_dir" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library_dir"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_library_dir()</span></tt></a> and/or <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_library_dirs" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_library_dirs"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_library_dirs()</span></tt></a>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_library_dirs">
<tt class="descname">set_library_dirs</tt><big>(</big><em>dirs</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_library_dirs" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Set the list of library search directories to <em>dirs</em> (a list of strings).  This
does not affect any standard library search path that the linker may search by
default.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_runtime_library_dir">
<tt class="descname">add_runtime_library_dir</tt><big>(</big><em>dir</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_runtime_library_dir" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Add <em>dir</em> to the list of directories that will be searched for shared libraries
at runtime.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_runtime_library_dirs">
<tt class="descname">set_runtime_library_dirs</tt><big>(</big><em>dirs</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_runtime_library_dirs" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Set the list of directories to search for shared libraries at runtime to <em>dirs</em>
(a list of strings).  This does not affect any standard search path that the
runtime linker may search by default.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.define_macro">
<tt class="descname">define_macro</tt><big>(</big><em>name</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>value=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.define_macro" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Define a preprocessor macro for all compilations driven by this compiler object.
The optional parameter <em>value</em> should be a string; if it is not supplied, then
the macro will be defined without an explicit value and the exact outcome
depends on the compiler used (XXX true? does ANSI say anything about this?)</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.undefine_macro">
<tt class="descname">undefine_macro</tt><big>(</big><em>name</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.undefine_macro" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Undefine a preprocessor macro for all compilations driven by this compiler
object.  If the same macro is defined by <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.define_macro" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.define_macro"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">define_macro()</span></tt></a> and
undefined by <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.undefine_macro" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.undefine_macro"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">undefine_macro()</span></tt></a> the last call takes precedence
(including multiple redefinitions or undefinitions).  If the macro is
redefined/undefined on a per-compilation basis (ie. in the call to
<a title="compile" class="reference external" href="../library/functions.html#compile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">compile()</span></tt></a>), then that takes precedence.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_link_object">
<tt class="descname">add_link_object</tt><big>(</big><em>object</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_link_object" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Add <em>object</em> to the list of object files (or analogues, such as explicitly named
library files or the output of &#8220;resource compilers&#8221;) to be included in every
link driven by this compiler object.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_link_objects">
<tt class="descname">set_link_objects</tt><big>(</big><em>objects</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_link_objects" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Set the list of object files (or analogues) to be included in every link to
<em>objects</em>.  This does not affect any standard object files that the linker may
include by default (such as system libraries).</dd></dl>

<p>The following methods implement methods for autodetection of compiler  options,
providing some functionality similar to GNU <strong>autoconf</strong>.</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.detect_language">
<tt class="descname">detect_language</tt><big>(</big><em>sources</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.detect_language" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Detect the language of a given file, or list of files. Uses the  instance
attributes <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">language_map</span></tt> (a dictionary), and  <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">language_order</span></tt> (a
list) to do the job.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.find_library_file">
<tt class="descname">find_library_file</tt><big>(</big><em>dirs</em>, <em>lib</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>debug=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.find_library_file" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Search the specified list of directories for a static or shared library file
<em>lib</em> and return the full path to that file.  If <em>debug</em> is true, look for a
debugging version (if that makes sense on the current platform).  Return
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> if <em>lib</em> wasn&#8217;t found in any of the specified directories.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.has_function">
<tt class="descname">has_function</tt><big>(</big><em>funcname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>includes=None</em>, <em>include_dirs=None</em>, <em>libraries=None</em>, <em>library_dirs=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.has_function" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return a boolean indicating whether <em>funcname</em> is supported on the current
platform.  The optional arguments can be used to augment the compilation
environment by providing additional include files and paths and libraries and
paths.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.library_dir_option">
<tt class="descname">library_dir_option</tt><big>(</big><em>dir</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.library_dir_option" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the compiler option to add <em>dir</em> to the list of directories searched for
libraries.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.library_option">
<tt class="descname">library_option</tt><big>(</big><em>lib</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.library_option" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the compiler option to add <em>dir</em> to the list of libraries linked into the
shared library or executable.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.runtime_library_dir_option">
<tt class="descname">runtime_library_dir_option</tt><big>(</big><em>dir</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.runtime_library_dir_option" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the compiler option to add <em>dir</em> to the list of directories searched for
runtime libraries.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_executables">
<tt class="descname">set_executables</tt><big>(</big><em>**args</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_executables" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Define the executables (and options for them) that will be run to perform the
various stages of compilation.  The exact set of executables that may be
specified here depends on the compiler class (via the &#8216;executables&#8217; class
attribute), but most will have:</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="25%" />
<col width="75%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">attribute</th>
<th class="head">description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><em>compiler</em></td>
<td>the C/C++ compiler</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>linker_so</em></td>
<td>linker used to create shared objects and
libraries</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>linker_exe</em></td>
<td>linker used to create binary executables</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>archiver</em></td>
<td>static library creator</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>On platforms with a command-line (Unix, DOS/Windows), each of these is a string
that will be split into executable name and (optional) list of arguments.
(Splitting the string is done similarly to how Unix shells operate: words are
delimited by spaces, but quotes and backslashes can override this.  See
<a title="distutils.util.split_quoted" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.util.split_quoted"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.util.split_quoted()</span></tt></a>.)</p>
</dd></dl>

<p>The following methods invoke stages in the build process.</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.compile">
<tt class="descname">compile</tt><big>(</big><em>sources</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>output_dir=None</em>, <em>macros=None</em>, <em>include_dirs=None</em>, <em>debug=0</em>, <em>extra_preargs=None</em>, <em>extra_postargs=None</em>, <em>depends=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.compile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Compile one or more source files. Generates object files (e.g.  transforms a
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.c</span></tt> file to a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.o</span></tt> file.)</p>
<p><em>sources</em> must be a list of filenames, most likely C/C++ files, but in reality
anything that can be handled by a particular compiler and compiler class (eg.
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MSVCCompiler</span></tt> can handle resource files in <em>sources</em>).  Return a list of
object filenames, one per source filename in <em>sources</em>.  Depending on the
implementation, not all source files will necessarily be compiled, but all
corresponding object filenames will be returned.</p>
<p>If <em>output_dir</em> is given, object files will be put under it, while retaining
their original path component.  That is, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">foo/bar.c</span></tt> normally compiles to
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">foo/bar.o</span></tt> (for a Unix implementation); if <em>output_dir</em> is <em>build</em>, then
it would compile to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">build/foo/bar.o</span></tt>.</p>
<p><em>macros</em>, if given, must be a list of macro definitions.  A macro definition is
either a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(name,</span> <span class="pre">value)</span></tt> 2-tuple or a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(name,)</span></tt> 1-tuple. The former defines
a macro; if the value is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>, the macro is defined without an explicit
value.  The 1-tuple case undefines a macro.  Later
definitions/redefinitions/undefinitions take precedence.</p>
<p><em>include_dirs</em>, if given, must be a list of strings, the directories to add to
the default include file search path for this compilation only.</p>
<p><em>debug</em> is a boolean; if true, the compiler will be instructed to output debug
symbols in (or alongside) the object file(s).</p>
<p><em>extra_preargs</em> and <em>extra_postargs</em> are implementation-dependent. On platforms
that have the notion of a command-line (e.g. Unix, DOS/Windows), they are most
likely lists of strings: extra command-line arguments to prepend/append to the
compiler command line.  On other platforms, consult the implementation class
documentation.  In any event, they are intended as an escape hatch for those
occasions when the abstract compiler framework doesn&#8217;t cut the mustard.</p>
<p><em>depends</em>, if given, is a list of filenames that all targets depend on.  If a
source file is older than any file in depends, then the source file will be
recompiled.  This supports dependency tracking, but only at a coarse
granularity.</p>
<p>Raises <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CompileError</span></tt> on failure.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.create_static_lib">
<tt class="descname">create_static_lib</tt><big>(</big><em>objects</em>, <em>output_libname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>output_dir=None</em>, <em>debug=0</em>, <em>target_lang=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.create_static_lib" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Link a bunch of stuff together to create a static library file. The &#8220;bunch of
stuff&#8221; consists of the list of object files supplied as <em>objects</em>, the extra
object files supplied to <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_link_object" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_link_object"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_link_object()</span></tt></a> and/or
<a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_link_objects" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_link_objects"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_link_objects()</span></tt></a>, the libraries supplied to <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_library()</span></tt></a> and/or
<a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_libraries"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_libraries()</span></tt></a>, and the libraries supplied as <em>libraries</em> (if any).</p>
<p><em>output_libname</em> should be a library name, not a filename; the filename will be
inferred from the library name.  <em>output_dir</em> is the directory where the library
file will be put. XXX defaults to what?</p>
<p><em>debug</em> is a boolean; if true, debugging information will be included in the
library (note that on most platforms, it is the compile step where this matters:
the <em>debug</em> flag is included here just for consistency).</p>
<p><em>target_lang</em> is the target language for which the given objects are being
compiled. This allows specific linkage time treatment of certain languages.</p>
<p>Raises <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">LibError</span></tt> on failure.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link">
<tt class="descname">link</tt><big>(</big><em>target_desc</em>, <em>objects</em>, <em>output_filename</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>output_dir=None</em>, <em>libraries=None</em>, <em>library_dirs=None</em>, <em>runtime_library_dirs=None</em>, <em>export_symbols=None</em>, <em>debug=0</em>, <em>extra_preargs=None</em>, <em>extra_postargs=None</em>, <em>build_temp=None</em>, <em>target_lang=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Link a bunch of stuff together to create an executable or shared library file.</p>
<p>The &#8220;bunch of stuff&#8221; consists of the list of object files supplied as <em>objects</em>.
<em>output_filename</em> should be a filename.  If <em>output_dir</em> is supplied,
<em>output_filename</em> is relative to it (i.e. <em>output_filename</em> can provide
directory components if needed).</p>
<p><em>libraries</em> is a list of libraries to link against.  These are library names,
not filenames, since they&#8217;re translated into filenames in a platform-specific
way (eg. <em>foo</em> becomes <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">libfoo.a</span></tt> on Unix and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">foo.lib</span></tt> on
DOS/Windows).  However, they can include a directory component, which means the
linker will look in that specific directory rather than searching all the normal
locations.</p>
<p><em>library_dirs</em>, if supplied, should be a list of directories to search for
libraries that were specified as bare library names (ie. no directory
component).  These are on top of the system default and those supplied to
<a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library_dir" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_library_dir"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_library_dir()</span></tt></a> and/or <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_library_dirs" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.set_library_dirs"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_library_dirs()</span></tt></a>.  <em>runtime_library_dirs</em>
is a list of directories that will be embedded into the shared library and used
to search for other shared libraries that *it* depends on at run-time.  (This
may only be relevant on Unix.)</p>
<p><em>export_symbols</em> is a list of symbols that the shared library will export.
(This appears to be relevant only on Windows.)</p>
<p><em>debug</em> is as for <a title="compile" class="reference external" href="../library/functions.html#compile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">compile()</span></tt></a> and <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.create_static_lib" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.create_static_lib"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">create_static_lib()</span></tt></a>,  with the
slight distinction that it actually matters on most platforms (as opposed to
<a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.create_static_lib" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.create_static_lib"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">create_static_lib()</span></tt></a>, which includes a <em>debug</em> flag mostly for form&#8217;s
sake).</p>
<p><em>extra_preargs</em> and <em>extra_postargs</em> are as for <a title="compile" class="reference external" href="../library/functions.html#compile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">compile()</span></tt></a>  (except of
course that they supply command-line arguments for the particular linker being
used).</p>
<p><em>target_lang</em> is the target language for which the given objects are being
compiled. This allows specific linkage time treatment of certain languages.</p>
<p>Raises <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">LinkError</span></tt> on failure.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link_executable">
<tt class="descname">link_executable</tt><big>(</big><em>objects</em>, <em>output_progname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>output_dir=None</em>, <em>libraries=None</em>, <em>library_dirs=None</em>, <em>runtime_library_dirs=None</em>, <em>debug=0</em>, <em>extra_preargs=None</em>, <em>extra_postargs=None</em>, <em>target_lang=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link_executable" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Link an executable.  <em>output_progname</em> is the name of the file executable, while
<em>objects</em> are a list of object filenames to link in. Other arguments  are as for
the <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">link()</span></tt></a> method.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link_shared_lib">
<tt class="descname">link_shared_lib</tt><big>(</big><em>objects</em>, <em>output_libname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>output_dir=None</em>, <em>libraries=None</em>, <em>library_dirs=None</em>, <em>runtime_library_dirs=None</em>, <em>export_symbols=None</em>, <em>debug=0</em>, <em>extra_preargs=None</em>, <em>extra_postargs=None</em>, <em>build_temp=None</em>, <em>target_lang=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link_shared_lib" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Link a shared library. <em>output_libname</em> is the name of the output  library,
while <em>objects</em> is a list of object filenames to link in.  Other arguments are
as for the <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">link()</span></tt></a> method.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link_shared_object">
<tt class="descname">link_shared_object</tt><big>(</big><em>objects</em>, <em>output_filename</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>output_dir=None</em>, <em>libraries=None</em>, <em>library_dirs=None</em>, <em>runtime_library_dirs=None</em>, <em>export_symbols=None</em>, <em>debug=0</em>, <em>extra_preargs=None</em>, <em>extra_postargs=None</em>, <em>build_temp=None</em>, <em>target_lang=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link_shared_object" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Link a shared object. <em>output_filename</em> is the name of the shared object that
will be created, while <em>objects</em> is a list of object filenames  to link in.
Other arguments are as for the <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.link"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">link()</span></tt></a> method.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.preprocess">
<tt class="descname">preprocess</tt><big>(</big><em>source</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>output_file=None</em>, <em>macros=None</em>, <em>include_dirs=None</em>, <em>extra_preargs=None</em>, <em>extra_postargs=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.preprocess" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Preprocess a single C/C++ source file, named in <em>source</em>. Output will be written
to file named <em>output_file</em>, or <em>stdout</em> if <em>output_file</em> not supplied.
<em>macros</em> is a list of macro definitions as for <a title="compile" class="reference external" href="../library/functions.html#compile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">compile()</span></tt></a>, which will
augment the macros set with <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.define_macro" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.define_macro"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">define_macro()</span></tt></a> and <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.undefine_macro" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.undefine_macro"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">undefine_macro()</span></tt></a>.
<em>include_dirs</em> is a list of directory names that will be added to the  default
list, in the same way as <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.add_include_dir"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">add_include_dir()</span></tt></a>.</p>
<p>Raises <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">PreprocessError</span></tt> on failure.</p>
</dd></dl>

<p>The following utility methods are defined by the <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt></a> class, for
use by the various concrete subclasses.</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.executable_filename">
<tt class="descname">executable_filename</tt><big>(</big><em>basename</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>strip_dir=0</em>, <em>output_dir=''</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.executable_filename" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Returns the filename of the executable for the given <em>basename</em>.  Typically for
non-Windows platforms this is the same as the basename,  while Windows will get
a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.exe</span></tt> added.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.library_filename">
<tt class="descname">library_filename</tt><big>(</big><em>libname</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>lib_type='static'</em>, <em>strip_dir=0</em>, <em>output_dir=''</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.library_filename" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Returns the filename for the given library name on the current platform. On Unix
a library with <em>lib_type</em> of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'static'</span></tt> will typically  be of the form
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">liblibname.a</span></tt>, while a <em>lib_type</em> of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'dynamic'</span></tt>  will be of the form
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">liblibname.so</span></tt>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.object_filenames">
<tt class="descname">object_filenames</tt><big>(</big><em>source_filenames</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>strip_dir=0</em>, <em>output_dir=''</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.object_filenames" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Returns the name of the object files for the given source files.
<em>source_filenames</em> should be a list of filenames.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.shared_object_filename">
<tt class="descname">shared_object_filename</tt><big>(</big><em>basename</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>strip_dir=0</em>, <em>output_dir=''</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.shared_object_filename" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Returns the name of a shared object file for the given file name <em>basename</em>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.execute">
<tt class="descname">execute</tt><big>(</big><em>func</em>, <em>args</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>msg=None</em>, <em>level=1</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.execute" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Invokes <a title="distutils.util.execute" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.util.execute"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.util.execute()</span></tt></a> This method invokes a  Python function
<em>func</em> with the given arguments <em>args</em>, after  logging and taking into account
the <em>dry_run</em> flag. XXX see also.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.spawn">
<tt class="descname">spawn</tt><big>(</big><em>cmd</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.spawn" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Invokes <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.util.spawn()</span></tt>. This invokes an external  process to run
the given command. XXX see also.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.mkpath">
<tt class="descname">mkpath</tt><big>(</big><em>name</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>mode=511</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.mkpath" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Invokes <a title="distutils.dir_util.mkpath" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.dir_util.mkpath"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dir_util.mkpath()</span></tt></a>. This creates a directory  and any
missing ancestor directories. XXX see also.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.move_file">
<tt class="descname">move_file</tt><big>(</big><em>src</em>, <em>dst</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.move_file" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Invokes <a title="distutils.file_util.move_file" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.file_util.move_file"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.file_util.move_file()</span></tt></a>. Renames <em>src</em> to  <em>dst</em>.  XXX see
also.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.announce">
<tt class="descname">announce</tt><big>(</big><em>msg</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>level=1</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.announce" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Write a message using <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.log.debug()</span></tt>. XXX see also.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.warn">
<tt class="descname">warn</tt><big>(</big><em>msg</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.warn" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Write a warning message <em>msg</em> to standard error.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.debug_print">
<tt class="descname">debug_print</tt><big>(</big><em>msg</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler.debug_print" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>If the <em>debug</em> flag is set on this <a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt></a> instance, print  <em>msg</em> to
standard output, otherwise do nothing.</dd></dl>

</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.unixccompiler">
<h2>11.3. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.unixccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Unix C Compiler<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.unixccompiler" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">UnixCCompiler</span></tt> class, a subclass of
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt> that handles the typical Unix-style command-line  C compiler:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>macros defined with <em class="xref">-Dname[=value]</em></li>
<li>macros undefined with <em class="xref">-Uname</em></li>
<li>include search directories specified with <em class="xref">-Idir</em></li>
<li>libraries specified with <em class="xref">-llib</em></li>
<li>library search directories specified with <em class="xref">-Ldir</em></li>
<li>compile handled by <strong>cc</strong> (or similar) executable with <a class="reference external" href="../using/cmdline.html#cmdoption-c"><em class="xref">-c</em></a>
option: compiles <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.c</span></tt> to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.o</span></tt></li>
<li>link static library handled by <strong>ar</strong> command (possibly with
<strong>ranlib</strong>)</li>
<li>link shared library handled by <strong>cc</strong> <em class="xref">-shared</em></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.msvccompiler">
<h2>11.4. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.msvccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Microsoft Compiler<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.msvccompiler" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MSVCCompiler</span></tt>, an implementation of the abstract
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt> class for Microsoft Visual Studio. Typically, extension
modules need to be compiled with the same compiler that was used to compile
Python. For Python 2.3 and earlier, the compiler was Visual Studio 6. For Python
2.4 and 2.5, the compiler is Visual Studio .NET 2003. The AMD64 and Itanium
binaries are created using the Platform SDK.</p>
<p><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MSVCCompiler</span></tt> will normally choose the right compiler, linker etc. on
its own. To override this choice, the environment variables <em>DISTUTILS_USE_SDK</em>
and <em>MSSdk</em> must be both set. <em>MSSdk</em> indicates that the current environment has
been setup by the SDK&#8217;s <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">SetEnv.Cmd</span></tt> script, or that the environment variables
had been registered when the SDK was installed; <em>DISTUTILS_USE_SDK</em> indicates
that the distutils user has made an explicit choice to override the compiler
selection by <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MSVCCompiler</span></tt>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.bcppcompiler">
<h2>11.5. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.bcppcompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Borland Compiler<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.bcppcompiler" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">BorlandCCompiler</span></tt>, an subclass of the abstract
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt> class for the Borland C++ compiler.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.cygwinccompiler">
<h2>11.6. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.cygwincompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Cygwin Compiler<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.cygwinccompiler" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CygwinCCompiler</span></tt> class, a subclass of
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">UnixCCompiler</span></tt> that handles the Cygwin port of the GNU C compiler to
Windows.  It also contains the Mingw32CCompiler class which handles the mingw32
port of GCC (same as cygwin in no-cygwin mode).</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.emxccompiler">
<h2>11.7. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.emxccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; OS/2 EMX Compiler<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.emxccompiler" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the EMXCCompiler class, a subclass of
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">UnixCCompiler</span></tt> that handles the EMX port of the GNU C compiler to OS/2.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.mwerkscompiler">
<h2>11.8. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.mwerkscompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Metrowerks CodeWarrior support<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.mwerkscompiler" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Contains <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MWerksCompiler</span></tt>, an implementation of the abstract
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">CCompiler</span></tt> class for MetroWerks CodeWarrior on the pre-Mac OS X
Macintosh. Needs work to support CW on Windows or Mac OS X.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.archive_util">
<h2>11.9. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.archive_util</span></tt> &#8212;  Archiving utilities<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.archive_util" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides a few functions for creating archive files, such as
tarballs or zipfiles.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.archive_util.make_archive">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.archive_util.</tt><tt class="descname">make_archive</tt><big>(</big><em>base_name</em>, <em>format</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>root_dir=None</em>, <em>base_dir=None</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.archive_util.make_archive" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Create an archive file (eg. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">zip</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">tar</span></tt>).  <em>base_name</em>  is the name of
the file to create, minus any format-specific extension;  <em>format</em> is the
archive format: one of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">zip</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">tar</span></tt>,  <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ztar</span></tt>, or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">gztar</span></tt>. <em>root_dir</em> is
a directory that will be the root directory of the archive; ie. we typically
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">chdir</span></tt> into <em>root_dir</em> before  creating the archive.  <em>base_dir</em> is the
directory where we start  archiving from; ie. <em>base_dir</em> will be the common
prefix of all files and directories in the archive.  <em>root_dir</em> and <em>base_dir</em>
both default to the current directory.  Returns the name of the archive file.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p class="last">This should be changed to support bz2 files</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.archive_util.make_tarball">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.archive_util.</tt><tt class="descname">make_tarball</tt><big>(</big><em>base_name</em>, <em>base_dir</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>compress='gzip'</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.archive_util.make_tarball" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>&#8216;Create an (optional compressed) archive as a tar file from all files in and
under <em>base_dir</em>. <em>compress</em> must be <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'gzip'</span></tt> (the default),  <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'compress'</span></tt>,
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'bzip2'</span></tt>, or <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>.  Both <strong>tar</strong> and the compression utility named
by <em>compress</em> must be on the  default program search path, so this is probably
Unix-specific.  The  output tar file will be named <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">base_dir.tar</span></tt>,
possibly plus the appropriate compression extension (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.gz</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.bz2</span></tt>
or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.Z</span></tt>).  Return the output filename.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p class="last">This should be replaced with calls to the <a title="Read and write tar-format archive files." class="reference external" href="../library/tarfile.html#module-tarfile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">tarfile</span></tt></a> module.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.archive_util.make_zipfile">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.archive_util.</tt><tt class="descname">make_zipfile</tt><big>(</big><em>base_name</em>, <em>base_dir</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.archive_util.make_zipfile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Create a zip file from all files in and under <em>base_dir</em>.  The output zip file
will be named <em>base_dir</em> + <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.zip</span></tt>.  Uses either the  <a title="Read and write ZIP-format archive files." class="reference external" href="../library/zipfile.html#module-zipfile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">zipfile</span></tt></a> Python
module (if available) or the InfoZIP <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">zip</span></tt>  utility (if installed and
found on the default search path).  If neither  tool is available, raises
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">DistutilsExecError</span></tt>.   Returns the name of the output zip file.</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.dep_util">
<h2>11.10. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dep_util</span></tt> &#8212; Dependency checking<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.dep_util" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides functions for performing simple, timestamp-based
dependency of files and groups of files; also, functions based entirely  on such
timestamp dependency analysis.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.dep_util.newer">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.dep_util.</tt><tt class="descname">newer</tt><big>(</big><em>source</em>, <em>target</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.dep_util.newer" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return true if <em>source</em> exists and is more recently modified than <em>target</em>, or
if <em>source</em> exists and <em>target</em> doesn&#8217;t. Return false if both exist and <em>target</em>
is the same age or newer  than <em>source</em>. Raise <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">DistutilsFileError</span></tt> if
<em>source</em> does not exist.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.dep_util.newer_pairwise">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.dep_util.</tt><tt class="descname">newer_pairwise</tt><big>(</big><em>sources</em>, <em>targets</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.dep_util.newer_pairwise" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Walk two filename lists in parallel, testing if each source is newer than its
corresponding target.  Return a pair of lists (<em>sources</em>, <em>targets</em>) where
source is newer than target, according to the semantics of <a title="distutils.dep_util.newer" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.dep_util.newer"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">newer()</span></tt></a></dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.dep_util.newer_group">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.dep_util.</tt><tt class="descname">newer_group</tt><big>(</big><em>sources</em>, <em>target</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>missing='error'</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.dep_util.newer_group" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return true if <em>target</em> is out-of-date with respect to any file listed in
<em>sources</em>  In other words, if <em>target</em> exists and is newer than every file in
<em>sources</em>, return false; otherwise return true. <em>missing</em> controls what we do
when a source file is missing; the default (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'error'</span></tt>) is to blow up with an
<a title="exceptions.OSError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.OSError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">OSError</span></tt></a> from  inside <a title="os.stat" class="reference external" href="../library/os.html#os.stat"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.stat()</span></tt></a>; if it is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'ignore'</span></tt>, we silently
drop any missing source files; if it is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'newer'</span></tt>, any missing source files
make us assume that <em>target</em> is out-of-date (this is handy in &#8220;dry-run&#8221; mode:
it&#8217;ll make you pretend to carry out commands that wouldn&#8217;t work because inputs
are missing, but that doesn&#8217;t matter because you&#8217;re not actually going to run
the commands).</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.dir_util">
<h2>11.11. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dir_util</span></tt> &#8212; Directory tree operations<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.dir_util" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides functions for operating on directories and trees of
directories.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.dir_util.mkpath">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.dir_util.</tt><tt class="descname">mkpath</tt><big>(</big><em>name</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>mode=0777</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.dir_util.mkpath" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Create a directory and any missing ancestor directories.  If the directory
already exists (or if <em>name</em> is the empty string, which means the current
directory, which of course exists), then do nothing.  Raise
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">DistutilsFileError</span></tt> if unable to create some directory along the way (eg.
some sub-path exists, but is a file rather than a directory).  If <em>verbose</em> is
true, print a one-line summary of each mkdir to stdout.  Return the list of
directories actually created.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.dir_util.create_tree">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.dir_util.</tt><tt class="descname">create_tree</tt><big>(</big><em>base_dir</em>, <em>files</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>mode=0777</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.dir_util.create_tree" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Create all the empty directories under <em>base_dir</em> needed to put <em>files</em> there.
<em>base_dir</em> is just the a name of a directory which doesn&#8217;t necessarily exist
yet; <em>files</em> is a list of filenames to be interpreted relative to <em>base_dir</em>.
<em>base_dir</em> + the directory portion of every file in <em>files</em> will be created if
it doesn&#8217;t already exist.  <em>mode</em>, <em>verbose</em> and <em>dry_run</em> flags  are as for
<a title="distutils.dir_util.mkpath" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.dir_util.mkpath"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">mkpath()</span></tt></a>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.dir_util.copy_tree">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.dir_util.</tt><tt class="descname">copy_tree</tt><big>(</big><em>src</em>, <em>dst</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>preserve_mode=1</em>, <em>preserve_times=1</em>, <em>preserve_symlinks=0</em>, <em>update=0</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.dir_util.copy_tree" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Copy an entire directory tree <em>src</em> to a new location <em>dst</em>.  Both <em>src</em> and
<em>dst</em> must be directory names.  If <em>src</em> is not a directory, raise
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">DistutilsFileError</span></tt>.  If <em>dst</em> does  not exist, it is created with
<a title="distutils.dir_util.mkpath" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.dir_util.mkpath"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">mkpath()</span></tt></a>.  The end result of the  copy is that every file in <em>src</em> is
copied to <em>dst</em>, and  directories under <em>src</em> are recursively copied to <em>dst</em>.
Return the list of files that were copied or might have been copied, using their
output name. The return value is unaffected by <em>update</em> or <em>dry_run</em>: it is
simply the list of all files under <em>src</em>, with the names changed to be under
<em>dst</em>.</p>
<p><em>preserve_mode</em> and <em>preserve_times</em> are the same as for <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">copy_file()</span></tt> in
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.file_util</span></tt>; note that they only apply to regular files, not to
directories.  If <em>preserve_symlinks</em> is true, symlinks will be copied as
symlinks (on platforms that support them!); otherwise (the default), the
destination of the symlink will be copied.  <em>update</em> and <em>verbose</em> are the same
as for <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">copy_file()</span></tt>.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.dir_util.remove_tree">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.dir_util.</tt><tt class="descname">remove_tree</tt><big>(</big><em>directory</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.dir_util.remove_tree" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Recursively remove <em>directory</em> and all files and directories underneath it. Any
errors are ignored (apart from being reported to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.stdout</span></tt> if <em>verbose</em> is
true).</dd></dl>

<p><strong>**</strong> Some of this could be replaced with the shutil module? <strong>**</strong></p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.file_util">
<h2>11.12. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.file_util</span></tt> &#8212; Single file operations<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.file_util" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module contains some utility functions for operating on individual files.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.file_util.copy_file">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.file_util.</tt><tt class="descname">copy_file</tt><big>(</big><em>src</em>, <em>dst</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>preserve_mode=1</em>, <em>preserve_times=1</em>, <em>update=0</em>, <em>link=None</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.file_util.copy_file" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Copy file <em>src</em> to <em>dst</em>. If <em>dst</em> is a directory, then <em>src</em> is copied there
with the same name; otherwise, it must be a filename. (If the file exists, it
will be ruthlessly clobbered.) If <em>preserve_mode</em> is true (the default), the
file&#8217;s mode (type and permission bits, or whatever is analogous on the
current platform) is copied. If <em>preserve_times</em> is true (the default), the
last-modified and last-access times are copied as well. If <em>update</em> is true,
<em>src</em> will only be copied if <em>dst</em> does not exist, or if <em>dst</em> does exist but
is older than <em>src</em>.</p>
<p><em>link</em> allows you to make hard links (using <a title="os.link" class="reference external" href="../library/os.html#os.link"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.link()</span></tt></a>) or symbolic links
(using <a title="os.symlink" class="reference external" href="../library/os.html#os.symlink"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.symlink()</span></tt></a>) instead of copying: set it to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'hard'</span></tt> or
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'sym'</span></tt>; if it is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> (the default), files are copied. Don&#8217;t set <em>link</em>
on systems that don&#8217;t support it: <a title="distutils.file_util.copy_file" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.file_util.copy_file"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">copy_file()</span></tt></a> doesn&#8217;t check if hard or
symbolic linking is available.  It uses <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">_copy_file_contents()</span></tt> to copy file
contents.</p>
<p>Return a tuple <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(dest_name,</span> <span class="pre">copied)</span></tt>: <em>dest_name</em> is the actual  name of the
output file, and <em>copied</em> is true if the file was copied  (or would have been
copied, if <em>dry_run</em> true).</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.file_util.move_file">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.file_util.</tt><tt class="descname">move_file</tt><big>(</big><em>src</em>, <em>dst</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>verbose</em>, <em>dry_run</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.file_util.move_file" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Move file <em>src</em> to <em>dst</em>. If <em>dst</em> is a directory, the file will be moved into
it with the same name; otherwise, <em>src</em> is just renamed to <em>dst</em>.  Returns the
new full name of the file.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p class="last">Handles cross-device moves on Unix using <a title="distutils.file_util.copy_file" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.file_util.copy_file"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">copy_file()</span></tt></a>.  What about
other systems?</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.file_util.write_file">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.file_util.</tt><tt class="descname">write_file</tt><big>(</big><em>filename</em>, <em>contents</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.file_util.write_file" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Create a file called <em>filename</em> and write <em>contents</em> (a sequence of strings
without line terminators) to it.</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.util">
<h2>11.13. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.util</span></tt> &#8212; Miscellaneous other utility functions<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.util" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module contains other assorted bits and pieces that don&#8217;t fit into  any
other utility module.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.get_platform">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">get_platform</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.get_platform" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a string that identifies the current platform.  This is used mainly to
distinguish platform-specific build directories and platform-specific built
distributions.  Typically includes the OS name and version and the architecture
(as supplied by &#8216;os.uname()&#8217;), although the exact information included depends
on the OS; eg. for IRIX the architecture isn&#8217;t particularly important (IRIX only
runs on SGI hardware), but for Linux the kernel version isn&#8217;t particularly
important.</p>
<p>Examples of returned values:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">linux-i586</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">linux-alpha</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">solaris-2.6-sun4u</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">irix-5.3</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">irix64-6.2</span></tt></li>
</ul>
<p>For non-POSIX platforms, currently just returns <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.platform</span></tt>.</p>
<p>For Mac OS X systems the OS version reflects the minimal version on which
binaries will run (that is, the value of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET</span></tt>
during the build of Python), not the OS version of the current system.</p>
<p>For universal binary builds on Mac OS X the architecture value reflects
the univeral binary status instead of the architecture of the current
processor. For 32-bit universal binaries the architecture is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">fat</span></tt>,
for 64-bit universal binaries the architecture is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">fat64</span></tt>, and
for 4-way universal binaries the architecture is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">universal</span></tt>.</p>
<p>Examples of returned values on Mac OS X:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">macosx-10.3-ppc</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">macosx-10.3-fat</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">macosx-10.5-universal</span></tt></li>
</ul>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.convert_path">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">convert_path</tt><big>(</big><em>pathname</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.convert_path" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return &#8216;pathname&#8217; as a name that will work on the native filesystem, i.e. split
it on &#8216;/&#8217; and put it back together again using the current directory separator.
Needed because filenames in the setup script are always supplied in Unix style,
and have to be converted to the local convention before we can actually use them
in the filesystem.  Raises <a title="exceptions.ValueError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.ValueError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></tt></a> on non-Unix-ish systems if
<em>pathname</em> either  starts or ends with a slash.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.change_root">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">change_root</tt><big>(</big><em>new_root</em>, <em>pathname</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.change_root" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return <em>pathname</em> with <em>new_root</em> prepended.  If <em>pathname</em> is relative, this is
equivalent to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.path.join(new_root,pathname)</span></tt> Otherwise, it requires making
<em>pathname</em> relative and then joining the two, which is tricky on DOS/Windows.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.check_environ">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">check_environ</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.check_environ" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Ensure that &#8216;os.environ&#8217; has all the environment variables we guarantee that
users can use in config files, command-line options, etc.  Currently this
includes:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><span class="target" id="index-161"></span><strong class="xref">HOME</strong> - user&#8217;s home directory (Unix only)</li>
<li><span class="target" id="index-162"></span><strong class="xref">PLAT</strong> - description of the current platform, including hardware and
OS (see <a title="distutils.util.get_platform" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.util.get_platform"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">get_platform()</span></tt></a>)</li>
</ul>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.subst_vars">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">subst_vars</tt><big>(</big><em>s</em>, <em>local_vars</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.subst_vars" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Perform shell/Perl-style variable substitution on <em>s</em>.  Every occurrence of
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">$</span></tt> followed by a name is considered a variable, and variable is substituted
by the value found in the <em>local_vars</em> dictionary, or in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.environ</span></tt> if it&#8217;s
not in <em>local_vars</em>. <em>os.environ</em> is first checked/augmented to guarantee that
it contains certain values: see <a title="distutils.util.check_environ" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.util.check_environ"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">check_environ()</span></tt></a>.  Raise <a title="exceptions.ValueError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.ValueError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></tt></a>
for any variables not found in either <em>local_vars</em> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.environ</span></tt>.</p>
<p>Note that this is not a fully-fledged string interpolation function. A valid
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">$variable</span></tt> can consist only of upper and lower case letters, numbers and an
underscore. No { } or ( ) style quoting is available.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.grok_environment_error">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">grok_environment_error</tt><big>(</big><em>exc</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>prefix='error: '</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.grok_environment_error" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Generate a useful error message from an <a title="exceptions.EnvironmentError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.EnvironmentError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">EnvironmentError</span></tt></a>  (<a title="exceptions.IOError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.IOError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">IOError</span></tt></a>
or <a title="exceptions.OSError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.OSError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">OSError</span></tt></a>) exception object.   Handles Python 1.5.1 and later styles,
and does what it can to deal with  exception objects that don&#8217;t have a filename
(which happens when the error  is due to a two-file operation, such as
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">rename()</span></tt> or  <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">link()</span></tt>).  Returns the error message as a string
prefixed  with <em>prefix</em>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.split_quoted">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">split_quoted</tt><big>(</big><em>s</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.split_quoted" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Split a string up according to Unix shell-like rules for quotes and backslashes.
In short: words are delimited by spaces, as long as those spaces are not escaped
by a backslash, or inside a quoted string. Single and double quotes are
equivalent, and the quote characters can be backslash-escaped.  The backslash is
stripped from any two-character escape sequence, leaving only the escaped
character.  The quote characters are stripped from any quoted string.  Returns a
list of words.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.execute">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">execute</tt><big>(</big><em>func</em>, <em>args</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>msg=None</em>, <em>verbose=0</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.execute" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Perform some action that affects the outside world (for instance, writing to the
filesystem).  Such actions are special because they are disabled by the
<em>dry_run</em> flag.  This method takes  care of all that bureaucracy for you; all
you have to do is supply the function to call and an argument tuple for it (to
embody the &#8220;external action&#8221; being performed), and an optional message to print.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.strtobool">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">strtobool</tt><big>(</big><em>val</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.strtobool" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Convert a string representation of truth to true (1) or false (0).</p>
<p>True values are <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">y</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">yes</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">t</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">true</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">on</span></tt>  and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">1</span></tt>; false values
are <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">n</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">no</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">f</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">false</span></tt>,  <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">off</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">0</span></tt>.  Raises
<a title="exceptions.ValueError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.ValueError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></tt></a> if <em>val</em>  is anything else.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.byte_compile">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">byte_compile</tt><big>(</big><em>py_files</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>optimize=0</em>, <em>force=0</em>, <em>prefix=None</em>, <em>base_dir=None</em>, <em>verbose=1</em>, <em>dry_run=0</em>, <em>direct=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.byte_compile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Byte-compile a collection of Python source files to either <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></tt> or
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.pyo</span></tt> files in the same directory.  <em>py_files</em> is a list of files to
compile; any files that don&#8217;t end in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.py</span></tt> are silently skipped.
<em>optimize</em> must be one of the following:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">0</span></tt> - don&#8217;t optimize (generate <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></tt>)</li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">1</span></tt> - normal optimization (like <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">-O</span></tt>)</li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">2</span></tt> - extra optimization (like <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">python</span> <span class="pre">-OO</span></tt>)</li>
</ul>
<p>If <em>force</em> is true, all files are recompiled regardless of timestamps.</p>
<p>The source filename encoded in each <a class="reference external" href="../glossary.html#term-bytecode"><em class="xref">bytecode</em></a> file defaults to the filenames
listed in <em>py_files</em>; you can modify these with <em>prefix</em> and <em>basedir</em>.
<em>prefix</em> is a string that will be stripped off of each source filename, and
<em>base_dir</em> is a directory name that will be prepended (after <em>prefix</em> is
stripped).  You can supply either or both (or neither) of <em>prefix</em> and
<em>base_dir</em>, as you wish.</p>
<p>If <em>dry_run</em> is true, doesn&#8217;t actually do anything that would affect the
filesystem.</p>
<p>Byte-compilation is either done directly in this interpreter process with the
standard <a title="Generate byte-code files from Python source files." class="reference external" href="../library/py_compile.html#module-py_compile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">py_compile</span></tt></a> module, or indirectly by writing a temporary script
and executing it.  Normally, you should let <a title="distutils.util.byte_compile" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.util.byte_compile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">byte_compile()</span></tt></a> figure out to
use direct compilation or not (see the source for details).  The <em>direct</em> flag
is used by the script generated in indirect mode; unless you know what you&#8217;re
doing, leave it set to <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.util.rfc822_escape">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.util.</tt><tt class="descname">rfc822_escape</tt><big>(</big><em>header</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.util.rfc822_escape" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return a version of <em>header</em> escaped for inclusion in an <span class="target" id="index-163"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822.html"><strong>RFC 822</strong></a> header, by
ensuring there are 8 spaces space after each newline. Note that it does no other
modification of the string.</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.dist">
<h2>11.14. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dist</span></tt> &#8212; The Distribution class<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.dist" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt> class, which represents the
module distribution being built/installed/distributed.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.extension">
<h2>11.15. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.extension</span></tt> &#8212; The Extension class<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.extension" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Extension</span></tt> class, used to describe C/C++
extension modules in setup scripts.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.debug">
<h2>11.16. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.debug</span></tt> &#8212; Distutils debug mode<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.debug" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the DEBUG flag.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.errors">
<h2>11.17. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.errors</span></tt> &#8212; Distutils exceptions<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.errors" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Provides exceptions used by the Distutils modules.  Note that Distutils modules
may raise standard exceptions; in particular, SystemExit is usually raised for
errors that are obviously the end-user&#8217;s fault (eg. bad command-line arguments).</p>
<p>This module is safe to use in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">from</span> <span class="pre">...</span> <span class="pre">import</span> <span class="pre">*</span></tt> mode; it only exports
symbols whose names start with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distutils</span></tt> and end with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Error</span></tt>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.fancy_getopt">
<h2>11.18. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.fancy_getopt</span></tt> &#8212; Wrapper around the standard getopt module<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.fancy_getopt" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides a wrapper around the standard <a title="Portable parser for command line options; support both short and long option names." class="reference external" href="../library/getopt.html#module-getopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getopt</span></tt></a>  module that
provides the following additional features:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>short and long options are tied together</li>
<li>options have help strings, so <a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.fancy_getopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.fancy_getopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">fancy_getopt()</span></tt></a> could potentially  create a
complete usage summary</li>
<li>options set attributes of a passed-in object</li>
<li>boolean options can have &#8220;negative aliases&#8221; &#8212; eg. if <em class="xref">--quiet</em> is
the &#8220;negative alias&#8221; of <em class="xref">--verbose</em>, then <em class="xref">--quiet</em> on the
command line sets <em>verbose</em> to false.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>**</strong> Should be replaced with <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">optik</span></tt> (which is also now known as
<a title="More convenient, flexible, and powerful command-line parsing library." class="reference external" href="../library/optparse.html#module-optparse"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">optparse</span></tt></a> in Python 2.3 and later). <strong>**</strong></p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.fancy_getopt.fancy_getopt">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.fancy_getopt.</tt><tt class="descname">fancy_getopt</tt><big>(</big><em>options</em>, <em>negative_opt</em>, <em>object</em>, <em>args</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.fancy_getopt" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Wrapper function. <em>options</em> is a list of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(long_option,</span> <span class="pre">short_option,</span>
<span class="pre">help_string)</span></tt> 3-tuples as described in the constructor for
<a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">FancyGetopt</span></tt></a>. <em>negative_opt</em> should be a dictionary mapping option names
to option names, both the key and value should be in the <em>options</em> list.
<em>object</em> is an object which will be used to store values (see the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getopt()</span></tt>
method of the <a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">FancyGetopt</span></tt></a> class). <em>args</em> is the argument list. Will use
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.argv[1:]</span></tt> if you  pass <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> as <em>args</em>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.fancy_getopt.wrap_text">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.fancy_getopt.</tt><tt class="descname">wrap_text</tt><big>(</big><em>text</em>, <em>width</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.wrap_text" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Wraps <em>text</em> to less than <em>width</em> wide.</p>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p class="last">Should be replaced with <a title="Text wrapping and filling" class="reference external" href="../library/textwrap.html#module-textwrap"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">textwrap</span></tt></a> (which is available  in Python 2.3 and
later).</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.fancy_getopt.</tt><tt class="descname">FancyGetopt</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>option_table=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The option_table is a list of 3-tuples: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(long_option,</span> <span class="pre">short_option,</span>
<span class="pre">help_string)</span></tt></p>
<p>If an option takes an argument, its <em>long_option</em> should have <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'='</span></tt> appended;
<em>short_option</em> should just be a single character, no <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">':'</span></tt> in any case.
<em>short_option</em> should be <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> if a <em>long_option</em>  doesn&#8217;t have a
corresponding <em>short_option</em>. All option tuples must have long options.</p>
</dd></dl>

<p>The <a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">FancyGetopt</span></tt></a> class provides the following methods:</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt">
<tt class="descclassname">FancyGetopt.</tt><tt class="descname">getopt</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>args=None</em>, <em>object=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Parse command-line options in args. Store as attributes on <em>object</em>.</p>
<p>If <em>args</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> or not supplied, uses <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.argv[1:]</span></tt>.  If <em>object</em> is
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> or not supplied, creates a new <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">OptionDummy</span></tt> instance, stores
option values there, and returns a tuple <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(args,</span> <span class="pre">object)</span></tt>.  If <em>object</em> is
supplied, it is modified in place and <a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getopt()</span></tt></a> just returns <em>args</em>; in
both cases, the returned <em>args</em> is a modified copy of the passed-in <em>args</em> list,
which is left untouched.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.get_option_order">
<tt class="descclassname">FancyGetopt.</tt><tt class="descname">get_option_order</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.get_option_order" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Returns the list of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(option,</span> <span class="pre">value)</span></tt> tuples processed by the previous run of
<a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getopt()</span></tt></a>  Raises <a title="exceptions.RuntimeError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.RuntimeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">RuntimeError</span></tt></a> if <a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.getopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">getopt()</span></tt></a> hasn&#8217;t been called
yet.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.generate_help">
<tt class="descclassname">FancyGetopt.</tt><tt class="descname">generate_help</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>header=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt.generate_help" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Generate help text (a list of strings, one per suggested line of output) from
the option table for this <a title="distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.fancy_getopt.FancyGetopt"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">FancyGetopt</span></tt></a> object.</p>
<p>If supplied, prints the supplied <em>header</em> at the top of the help.</p>
</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.filelist">
<h2>11.19. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.filelist</span></tt> &#8212; The FileList class<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.filelist" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">FileList</span></tt> class, used for poking about the
filesystem and building lists of files.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.log">
<h2>11.20. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.log</span></tt> &#8212; Simple PEP 282-style logging<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.log" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="admonition warning">
<p class="first admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p class="last">Should be replaced with standard <a title="Flexible error logging system for applications." class="reference external" href="../library/logging.html#module-logging"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">logging</span></tt></a> module.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.spawn">
<h2>11.21. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.spawn</span></tt> &#8212; Spawn a sub-process<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.spawn" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">spawn()</span></tt> function, a front-end to  various
platform-specific functions for launching another program in a  sub-process.
Also provides <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">find_executable()</span></tt> to search the path for a given executable
name.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.sysconfig">
<h2>11.22. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.sysconfig</span></tt> &#8212; System configuration information<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.sysconfig" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.sysconfig</span></tt> module provides access to Python&#8217;s low-level
configuration information.  The specific configuration variables available
depend heavily on the platform and configuration. The specific variables depend
on the build process for the specific version of Python being run; the variables
are those found in the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Makefile</span></tt> and configuration header that are
installed with Python on Unix systems.  The configuration header is called
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">pyconfig.h</span></tt> for Python versions starting with 2.2, and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">config.h</span></tt>
for earlier versions of Python.</p>
<p>Some additional functions are provided which perform some useful manipulations
for other parts of the <a title="Support for building and installing Python modules into an existing Python installation." class="reference external" href="../library/distutils.html#module-distutils"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils</span></tt></a> package.</p>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.PREFIX">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">PREFIX</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.PREFIX" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>The result of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.path.normpath(sys.prefix)</span></tt>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="data">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.EXEC_PREFIX">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">EXEC_PREFIX</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.EXEC_PREFIX" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>The result of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">os.path.normpath(sys.exec_prefix)</span></tt>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">get_config_var</tt><big>(</big><em>name</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.get_config_var" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the value of a single variable.  This is equivalent to
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">get_config_vars().get(name)</span></tt>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.get_config_vars">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">get_config_vars</tt><big>(</big><em>...</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.get_config_vars" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return a set of variable definitions.  If there are no arguments, this returns a
dictionary mapping names of configuration variables to values.  If arguments are
provided, they should be strings, and the return value will be a sequence giving
the associated values. If a given name does not have a corresponding value,
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> will be included for that variable.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.get_config_h_filename">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">get_config_h_filename</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.get_config_h_filename" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the full path name of the configuration header.  For Unix, this will be
the header generated by the <strong>configure</strong> script; for other platforms the
header will have been supplied directly by the Python source distribution.  The
file is a platform-specific text file.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.get_makefile_filename">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">get_makefile_filename</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.get_makefile_filename" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the full path name of the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Makefile</span></tt> used to build Python.  For
Unix, this will be a file generated by the <strong>configure</strong> script; the
meaning for other platforms will vary.  The file is a platform-specific text
file, if it exists. This function is only useful on POSIX platforms.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.get_python_inc">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">get_python_inc</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>plat_specific</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>prefix</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.get_python_inc" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the directory for either the general or platform-dependent C include
files.  If <em>plat_specific</em> is true, the platform-dependent include directory is
returned; if false or omitted, the platform-independent directory is returned.
If <em>prefix</em> is given, it is used as either the prefix instead of
<a title="distutils.sysconfig.PREFIX" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.sysconfig.PREFIX"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">PREFIX</span></tt></a>, or as the exec-prefix instead of <a title="distutils.sysconfig.EXEC_PREFIX" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.sysconfig.EXEC_PREFIX"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">EXEC_PREFIX</span></tt></a> if
<em>plat_specific</em> is true.</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.get_python_lib">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">get_python_lib</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>plat_specific</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>standard_lib</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>prefix</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.get_python_lib" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Return the directory for either the general or platform-dependent library
installation.  If <em>plat_specific</em> is true, the platform-dependent include
directory is returned; if false or omitted, the platform-independent directory
is returned.  If <em>prefix</em> is given, it is used as either the prefix instead of
<a title="distutils.sysconfig.PREFIX" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.sysconfig.PREFIX"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">PREFIX</span></tt></a>, or as the exec-prefix instead of <a title="distutils.sysconfig.EXEC_PREFIX" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.sysconfig.EXEC_PREFIX"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">EXEC_PREFIX</span></tt></a> if
<em>plat_specific</em> is true.  If <em>standard_lib</em> is true, the directory for the
standard library is returned rather than the directory for the installation of
third-party extensions.</dd></dl>

<p>The following function is only intended for use within the <a title="Support for building and installing Python modules into an existing Python installation." class="reference external" href="../library/distutils.html#module-distutils"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils</span></tt></a>
package.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.customize_compiler">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">customize_compiler</tt><big>(</big><em>compiler</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.customize_compiler" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Do any platform-specific customization of a
<a title="distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.ccompiler.CCompiler</span></tt></a> instance.</p>
<p>This function is only needed on Unix at this time, but should be called
consistently to support forward-compatibility.  It inserts the information that
varies across Unix flavors and is stored in Python&#8217;s <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Makefile</span></tt>.  This
information includes the selected compiler, compiler and linker options, and the
extension used by the linker for shared objects.</p>
</dd></dl>

<p>This function is even more special-purpose, and should only be used from
Python&#8217;s own build procedures.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="distutils.sysconfig.set_python_build">
<tt class="descclassname">distutils.sysconfig.</tt><tt class="descname">set_python_build</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.sysconfig.set_python_build" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Inform the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.sysconfig</span></tt> module that it is being used as part of
the build process for Python.  This changes a lot of relative locations for
files, allowing them to be located in the build area rather than in an installed
Python.</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.text_file">
<h2>11.23. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.text_file</span></tt> &#8212; The TextFile class<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.text_file" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module provides the <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TextFile</span></tt></a> class, which gives an interface  to
text files that (optionally) takes care of stripping comments, ignoring  blank
lines, and joining lines with backslashes.</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.text_file.TextFile">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.text_file.</tt><tt class="descname">TextFile</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>filename=None</em>, <em>file=None</em>, <em>**options</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>This class provides a file-like object that takes care of all  the things you
commonly want to do when processing a text file  that has some line-by-line
syntax: strip comments (as long as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">#</span></tt>  is your comment character), skip blank
lines, join adjacent lines by escaping the newline (ie. backslash at end of
line), strip leading and/or trailing whitespace.  All of these are optional and
independently controllable.</p>
<p>The class provides a <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.warn" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.warn"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">warn()</span></tt></a> method so you can generate  warning messages
that report physical line number, even if the  logical line in question spans
multiple physical lines.  Also  provides <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unreadline()</span></tt></a> for implementing
line-at-a-time lookahead.</p>
<p><a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TextFile</span></tt></a> instances are create with either <em>filename</em>, <em>file</em>, or both.
<a title="exceptions.RuntimeError" class="reference external" href="../library/exceptions.html#exceptions.RuntimeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">RuntimeError</span></tt></a> is raised if both are <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>. <em>filename</em> should be a
string, and <em>file</em> a file object (or something that provides <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a>
and <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.close" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.close"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">close()</span></tt></a>  methods).  It is recommended that you supply at least
<em>filename</em>,  so that <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TextFile</span></tt></a> can include it in warning messages.  If
<em>file</em> is not supplied, <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TextFile</span></tt></a> creates its own using the
<a title="open" class="reference external" href="../library/functions.html#open"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">open()</span></tt></a> built-in function.</p>
<p>The options are all boolean, and affect the values returned by <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a></p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="31%" />
<col width="54%" />
<col width="15%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">option name</th>
<th class="head">description</th>
<th class="head">default</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><em>strip_comments</em></td>
<td>strip from <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'#'</span></tt> to end-of-
line, as well as any
whitespace leading up to the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'#'</span></tt>&#8212;unless it is
escaped by a backslash</td>
<td>true</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>lstrip_ws</em></td>
<td>strip leading whitespace from
each line before returning it</td>
<td>false</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>rstrip_ws</em></td>
<td>strip trailing whitespace
(including line terminator!)
from each line before
returning it.</td>
<td>true</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>skip_blanks</em></td>
<td>skip lines that are empty
*after* stripping comments
and whitespace.  (If both
lstrip_ws and rstrip_ws are
false, then some lines may
consist of solely whitespace:
these will *not* be skipped,
even if <em>skip_blanks</em> is
true.)</td>
<td>true</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>join_lines</em></td>
<td>if a backslash is the last
non-newline character on a
line after stripping comments
and whitespace, join the
following line to it to form
one logical line; if N
consecutive lines end with a
backslash, then N+1 physical
lines will be joined to form
one logical line.</td>
<td>false</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><em>collapse_join</em></td>
<td>strip leading whitespace from
lines that are joined to their
predecessor; only matters if
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(join_lines</span> <span class="pre">and</span> <span class="pre">not</span>
<span class="pre">lstrip_ws)</span></tt></td>
<td>false</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Note that since <em>rstrip_ws</em> can strip the trailing newline, the semantics of
<a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a> must differ from those of the builtin file object&#8217;s
<a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a> method!  In particular, <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a>  returns <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> for
end-of-file: an empty string might just be a  blank line (or an all-whitespace
line), if <em>rstrip_ws</em> is true  but <em>skip_blanks</em> is not.</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.text_file.TextFile.open">
<tt class="descname">open</tt><big>(</big><em>filename</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.open" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Open a new file <em>filename</em>. This overrides any <em>file</em> or  <em>filename</em> constructor
arguments.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.text_file.TextFile.close">
<tt class="descname">close</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.close" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Close the current file and forget everything we know about it (including the
filename and the current line number).</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.text_file.TextFile.warn">
<tt class="descname">warn</tt><big>(</big><em>msg</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>line=None</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.warn" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Print (to stderr) a warning message tied to the current logical line in the
current file.  If the current logical line in the file spans multiple physical
lines, the warning refers to the whole range, such as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">&quot;lines</span> <span class="pre">3-5&quot;</span></tt>.  If
<em>line</em> is supplied,  it overrides the current line number; it may be a list or
tuple  to indicate a range of physical lines, or an integer for a  single
physical line.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline">
<tt class="descname">readline</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Read and return a single logical line from the current file (or from an internal
buffer if lines have previously been &#8220;unread&#8221; with <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unreadline()</span></tt></a>).  If the
<em>join_lines</em> option  is true, this may involve reading multiple physical lines
concatenated into a single string.  Updates the current line number,  so calling
<a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.warn" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.warn"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">warn()</span></tt></a> after <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a> emits a warning  about the physical line(s)
just read.  Returns <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> on end-of-file,  since the empty string can occur
if <em>rstrip_ws</em> is true but  <em>strip_blanks</em> is not.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readlines">
<tt class="descname">readlines</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readlines" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Read and return the list of all logical lines remaining in the current file.
This updates the current line number to the last line of the file.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline">
<tt class="descname">unreadline</tt><big>(</big><em>line</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Push <em>line</em> (a string) onto an internal buffer that will be checked by future
<a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a> calls.  Handy for implementing a parser with line-at-a-time
lookahead. Note that lines that are &#8220;unread&#8221; with <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unreadline()</span></tt></a> are not
subsequently re-cleansed (whitespace  stripped, or whatever) when read with
<a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a>. If multiple calls are made to <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.unreadline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unreadline()</span></tt></a> before a call
to <a title="distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.text_file.TextFile.readline"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">readline()</span></tt></a>, the lines will be returned most in most recent first order.</dd></dl>

</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.version">
<h2>11.24. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.version</span></tt> &#8212; Version number classes<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.version" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.cmd">
<h2>11.25. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.cmd</span></tt> &#8212; Abstract base class for Distutils commands<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.cmd" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module supplies the abstract base class <a title="distutils.cmd.Command" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.cmd.Command"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Command</span></tt></a>.</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.cmd.Command">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.cmd.</tt><tt class="descname">Command</tt><big>(</big><em>dist</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.cmd.Command" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Abstract base class for defining command classes, the &#8220;worker bees&#8221; of the
Distutils.  A useful analogy for command classes is to think of them as
subroutines with local variables called <em>options</em>.  The options are declared in
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">initialize_options()</span></tt> and defined (given their final values) in
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">finalize_options()</span></tt>, both of which must be defined by every command class.
The distinction between the two is necessary because option values might come
from the outside world (command line, config file, ...), and any options
dependent on other options must be computed after these outside influences have
been processed &#8212; hence <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">finalize_options()</span></tt>.  The body of the subroutine,
where it does all its work based on the values of its options, is the
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">run()</span></tt> method, which must also be implemented by every command class.</p>
<p>The class constructor takes a single argument <em>dist</em>, a  <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Distribution</span></tt>
instance.</p>
</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command">
<h2>11.26. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command</span></tt> &#8212; Individual Distutils commands<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.bdist">
<h2>11.27. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist</span></tt> &#8212; Build a binary installer<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.bdist_packager">
<h2>11.28. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_packager</span></tt> &#8212; Abstract base class for packagers<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_packager" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.bdist_dumb">
<h2>11.29. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_dumb</span></tt> &#8212; Build a &#8220;dumb&#8221; installer<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_dumb" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.bdist_msi">
<h2>11.30. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_msi</span></tt> &#8212; Build a Microsoft Installer binary package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_msi" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="distutils.command.bdist_msi.bdist_msi">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">distutils.command.bdist_msi.</tt><tt class="descname">bdist_msi</tt><big>(</big><em>Command</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.command.bdist_msi.bdist_msi" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Builds a <a class="reference external" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc185688(VS.85).aspx">Windows Installer</a> (.msi) binary package.</p>
<p>In most cases, the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">bdist_msi</span></tt> installer is a better choice than the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">bdist_wininst</span></tt> installer, because it provides better support for
Win64 platforms, allows administrators to perform non-interactive
installations, and allows installation through group policies.</p>
</dd></dl>

</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.bdist_rpm">
<h2>11.31. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_rpm</span></tt> &#8212; Build a binary distribution as a Redhat RPM and SRPM<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_rpm" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.bdist_wininst">
<h2>11.32. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_wininst</span></tt> &#8212; Build a Windows installer<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_wininst" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.sdist">
<h2>11.33. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.sdist</span></tt> &#8212; Build a source distribution<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.sdist" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.build">
<h2>11.34. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build</span></tt> &#8212; Build all files of a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.build" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.build_clib">
<h2>11.35. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_clib</span></tt> &#8212; Build any C libraries in a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.build_clib" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.build_ext">
<h2>11.36. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_ext</span></tt> &#8212; Build any extensions in a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.build_ext" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.build_py">
<h2>11.37. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_py</span></tt> &#8212; Build the .py/.pyc files of a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.build_py" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.build_scripts">
<h2>11.38. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_scripts</span></tt> &#8212; Build the scripts of a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.build_scripts" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.clean">
<h2>11.39. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.clean</span></tt> &#8212; Clean a package build area<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.clean" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.config">
<h2>11.40. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.config</span></tt> &#8212; Perform package configuration<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.config" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.install">
<h2>11.41. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install</span></tt> &#8212; Install a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.install" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.install_data">
<h2>11.42. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_data</span></tt> &#8212; Install data files from a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.install_data" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.install_headers">
<h2>11.43. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_headers</span></tt> &#8212; Install C/C++ header files from a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.install_headers" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.install_lib">
<h2>11.44. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_lib</span></tt> &#8212; Install library files from a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.install_lib" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.install_scripts">
<h2>11.45. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_scripts</span></tt> &#8212; Install script files from a package<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.install_scripts" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-distutils.command.register">
<h2>11.46. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.register</span></tt> &#8212; Register a module with the Python Package Index<a class="headerlink" href="#module-distutils.command.register" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">register</span></tt> command registers the package with the Python Package  Index.
This is described in more detail in <span class="target" id="index-164"></span><a class="reference external" href="http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0301"><strong>PEP 301</strong></a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="creating-a-new-distutils-command">
<h2>11.47. Creating a new Distutils command<a class="headerlink" href="#creating-a-new-distutils-command" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This section outlines the steps to create a new Distutils command.</p>
<p>A new command lives in a module in the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command</span></tt> package. There
is a sample template in that directory called  <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">command_template</span></tt>. Copy
this file to a new module with the same name as the new command you&#8217;re
implementing. This module should implement a class with the same name as the
module (and the command). So, for instance, to create the command
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">peel_banana</span></tt> (so that users can run <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">setup.py</span> <span class="pre">peel_banana</span></tt>), you&#8217;d copy
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">command_template</span></tt>  to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils/command/peel_banana.py</span></tt>, then edit
it so that it&#8217;s implementing the class <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">peel_banana</span></tt>, a subclass of
<a title="distutils.cmd.Command" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.cmd.Command"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.cmd.Command</span></tt></a>.</p>
<p>Subclasses of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Command</span></tt> must define the following methods.</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options">
<tt class="descclassname">Command.</tt><tt class="descname">initialize_options</tt><big>(</big><em>)(S</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>et default values for all the options that this command supports.  Note that
these defaults may be overridden by other commands, by the setup script, by
config files, or by the command-line.  Thus, this is not the place to code
dependencies between options; generally, <a title="distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">initialize_options()</span></tt></a>
implementations are just a bunch of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">self.foo</span> <span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">None</span></tt> assignments.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.command.register.Command.finalize_options">
<tt class="descclassname">Command.</tt><tt class="descname">finalize_options</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.finalize_options" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>Set final values for all the options that this command supports. This is
always called as late as possible, ie.  after any option assignments from the
command-line or from other commands have been done.  Thus, this is the place
to to code option dependencies: if <em>foo</em> depends on <em>bar</em>, then it is safe to
set <em>foo</em> from <em>bar</em> as long as <em>foo</em> still has the same value it was
assigned in <a title="distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">initialize_options()</span></tt></a>.</dd></dl>

<dl class="method">
<dt id="distutils.command.register.Command.run">
<tt class="descclassname">Command.</tt><tt class="descname">run</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.run" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd>A command&#8217;s raison d&#8217;etre: carry out the action it exists to perform, controlled
by the options initialized in <a title="distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.initialize_options"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">initialize_options()</span></tt></a>, customized by other
commands, the setup script, the command-line, and config files, and finalized in
<a title="distutils.command.register.Command.finalize_options" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.finalize_options"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">finalize_options()</span></tt></a>.  All terminal output and filesystem interaction should
be done by <a title="distutils.command.register.Command.run" class="reference internal" href="#distutils.command.register.Command.run"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">run()</span></tt></a>.</dd></dl>

<p><em>sub_commands</em> formalizes the notion of a &#8220;family&#8221; of commands, eg. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">install</span></tt>
as the parent with sub-commands <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">install_lib</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">install_headers</span></tt>, etc.  The
parent of a family of commands defines <em>sub_commands</em> as a class attribute; it&#8217;s
a list of 2-tuples <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(command_name,</span> <span class="pre">predicate)</span></tt>, with <em>command_name</em> a string
and <em>predicate</em> an unbound method, a string or None. <em>predicate</em> is a method of
the parent command that determines whether the corresponding command is
applicable in the current situation.  (Eg. we <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">install_headers</span></tt> is only
applicable if we have any C header files to install.)  If <em>predicate</em> is None,
that command is always applicable.</p>
<p><em>sub_commands</em> is usually defined at the *end* of a class, because predicates
can be unbound methods, so they must already have been defined.  The canonical
example is the <strong>install</strong> command.</p>
</div>
</div>


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            <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
            <ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="">11. API Reference</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.core">11.1. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.core</span></tt> &#8212; Core Distutils functionality</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.ccompiler">11.2. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.ccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; CCompiler base class</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.unixccompiler">11.3. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.unixccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Unix C Compiler</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.msvccompiler">11.4. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.msvccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Microsoft Compiler</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.bcppcompiler">11.5. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.bcppcompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Borland Compiler</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.cygwinccompiler">11.6. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.cygwincompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Cygwin Compiler</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.emxccompiler">11.7. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.emxccompiler</span></tt> &#8212; OS/2 EMX Compiler</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.mwerkscompiler">11.8. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.mwerkscompiler</span></tt> &#8212; Metrowerks CodeWarrior support</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.archive_util">11.9. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.archive_util</span></tt> &#8212;  Archiving utilities</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.dep_util">11.10. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dep_util</span></tt> &#8212; Dependency checking</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.dir_util">11.11. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dir_util</span></tt> &#8212; Directory tree operations</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.file_util">11.12. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.file_util</span></tt> &#8212; Single file operations</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.util">11.13. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.util</span></tt> &#8212; Miscellaneous other utility functions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.dist">11.14. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.dist</span></tt> &#8212; The Distribution class</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.extension">11.15. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.extension</span></tt> &#8212; The Extension class</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.debug">11.16. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.debug</span></tt> &#8212; Distutils debug mode</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.errors">11.17. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.errors</span></tt> &#8212; Distutils exceptions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.fancy_getopt">11.18. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.fancy_getopt</span></tt> &#8212; Wrapper around the standard getopt module</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.filelist">11.19. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.filelist</span></tt> &#8212; The FileList class</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.log">11.20. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.log</span></tt> &#8212; Simple PEP 282-style logging</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.spawn">11.21. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.spawn</span></tt> &#8212; Spawn a sub-process</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.sysconfig">11.22. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.sysconfig</span></tt> &#8212; System configuration information</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.text_file">11.23. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.text_file</span></tt> &#8212; The TextFile class</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.version">11.24. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.version</span></tt> &#8212; Version number classes</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.cmd">11.25. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.cmd</span></tt> &#8212; Abstract base class for Distutils commands</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command">11.26. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command</span></tt> &#8212; Individual Distutils commands</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist">11.27. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist</span></tt> &#8212; Build a binary installer</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_packager">11.28. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_packager</span></tt> &#8212; Abstract base class for packagers</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_dumb">11.29. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_dumb</span></tt> &#8212; Build a &#8220;dumb&#8221; installer</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_msi">11.30. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_msi</span></tt> &#8212; Build a Microsoft Installer binary package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_rpm">11.31. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_rpm</span></tt> &#8212; Build a binary distribution as a Redhat RPM and SRPM</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.bdist_wininst">11.32. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.bdist_wininst</span></tt> &#8212; Build a Windows installer</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.sdist">11.33. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.sdist</span></tt> &#8212; Build a source distribution</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.build">11.34. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build</span></tt> &#8212; Build all files of a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.build_clib">11.35. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_clib</span></tt> &#8212; Build any C libraries in a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.build_ext">11.36. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_ext</span></tt> &#8212; Build any extensions in a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.build_py">11.37. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_py</span></tt> &#8212; Build the .py/.pyc files of a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.build_scripts">11.38. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.build_scripts</span></tt> &#8212; Build the scripts of a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.clean">11.39. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.clean</span></tt> &#8212; Clean a package build area</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.config">11.40. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.config</span></tt> &#8212; Perform package configuration</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.install">11.41. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install</span></tt> &#8212; Install a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.install_data">11.42. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_data</span></tt> &#8212; Install data files from a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.install_headers">11.43. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_headers</span></tt> &#8212; Install C/C++ header files from a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.install_lib">11.44. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_lib</span></tt> &#8212; Install library files from a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.install_scripts">11.45. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.install_scripts</span></tt> &#8212; Install script files from a package</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#module-distutils.command.register">11.46. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">distutils.command.register</span></tt> &#8212; Register a module with the Python Package Index</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="#creating-a-new-distutils-command">11.47. Creating a new Distutils command</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

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